More of Sam Adams

June 5, 2007

Now that Sam Adams has signed his one year deal with Denver, he has only one serious hurdle to pass before making the team. While his 13 seasons spent stuffing the run will certainly give him wisdom and an edge when learning Bates new system, his biggest challenge will come via Rich Tuten.

“I’m not worried about the system; I’m worried about the altitude and Rich Tuten. People understand early that this is a little bit different of a strength and conditioning program. It doesn’t matter who you are – you run here. That’s my big concern.”

— John Lynch 6/4/07

John raises a great point. Lynch spent his off-season in an intense boxing training program just to keep himself in the top shape necessary to tackle Tuten’s strength and conditioning (S&C) program. Brandon Marshall spent time at a WR retreat where S&C was a big part of the program for the same reason. Even our highest paid off-season acquisitions, Travis Henry and Daniel Graham, have commented on how demanding Tuten’s S&C program can be.

Enter Sam Adams at a scale busting 350lbs. Add to this the fact that Adams has recently been dogged by complaints that he’s out of shape. The last few years he actually spent the Bengal’s Training Camp working with their strength and conditioning coaches rather than drilling on the practice field with his teammates. And, after being released last month, he visited with the Rams – who were unsatisfied with the results of his physical and elected not to sign him.

However, none of that hindered Mike Shanahan — who had dinner with Adams last week when he visited Denver. I’m pretty sure they discussed Rich Tuten.

And now Adams will find himself under that not-so-loving care as Tuten and his staff prepare the team for a season of football. If Adams can embrace this program, he might find it well worth the sweat and pain. Adams is also coming off a minor knee surgery this off-season and there are few NFL teams that can claim to have the track record of Greek and Tuten when it comes to getting players back on the field.

Here’s a look at the D-linemen we currently have on the team by weight: